Last day of no-internet-in-room
Friday, September 29, 2006
Not that I wanna always put up pictures of food but that's the only thing I do at night.. haha other than tonight when I'm in the library with my flatmates using the computer.. and the past 2 night I popped down to the pub just a stones throw away from my flat to watch soccer (and drink a bit) with my flatmates.
I randomly upload photos to http://www.flickr.com/photos/clementchio/ under 'Leeds Random Photos' so go check out the photos since they not always are uploaded on the blog. I think flickr can do cool stuff like make comments on parts of the photos or wad so just play around!
They finally installed the wireless points all over my hostel and I am receiving the signal but I can't connect! Only after spending 2 pounds on a 4 minute phone call to them then I realise that the internet will only be up tomorrow.. or so they promised.
It's £21.99 for 25gb of data per month.. works out to be 1gb a day.. how much is that?? Been using unlimited internet in Singapore for so long I can't gauge how much information that is man..
Anyway since my timetable is so damn slack I enrolled myself in a French crash course! I think i'm crazy now that I'm taking 7 modules but my shiongest day is only a 4 hours of lectures! Dunno if NUS will recognise my French module but oh well.. even if they don't.. it's a something worth killing my time here.. since my neighbour speaks French and I should be going to France during December to practice and there are no written exams only speaking and listening...
Ok ba.. that's all for the short update.. Fangxishenmedongxi is popping by from Notts to visit tomorrow. Till I go online IN MY ROOM..
ciaoz
Signed off at
6:24 am
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
The Past Week in Leeds
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Oh well just realised I haven't been promptly blogging.. partly because of the lack of internet in my room. Now I'm in the Engineering buildings which is just a minute's walk away from my apartments tapping on their wireless internet.
So for those who are curious about what my apartment looks like...
Anyway.. the 1st week of school was no-lessons and all the intro fairs so all I did was just walk around the campus soaking myself in UK university life. The weather has been great.. sunny with cool breezes.. check out these photos of what's happening in Leeds Uni!
Following that night where the 4 Singaporeans tried out cooking our Hainanese Chicken Rice.. me and Yuanjing decided that it was our turn to cook after 2 nights of Italian food. It turned out to be quite a big thing.. the Japanese girl invited her Japanese friends over.. the Italian girl invited her Italian friends over.. and there were friends from France, Germany, Switzerland, UK all here to try out our cooking haa
Didn't turn out that bad though.. But there's one thing about Europeans.. they don't seem to like eating meat with bones. I notice them deboning the whole chicken thigh before starting the meal. I think the sight of bones may be rare for them.. so paiseh.
No wonder the chicken with bones are so cheap here. hehheh. Good for me.
We overestimated the amount to cook and so we had another TWO days of leftover chicken rice... Haha!
Day 2 of Chicken Rice
Day 3 of Chicken Rice!(it was chicken fried rice actually.. fried with chicken, ham, veggies and tofu. Tasted more like Lor Mai Kai)
Garlic Bread!This is when I realise my 2 years in Block Comm turned out useful after all.
Characteristic of the English University culture is cheonging.. they people here CHEONG EVERY NIGHT! It's an expensive habit actually. And dangerous too.. as the drunkards will just wander around the streets shouting and screaming. But of course how can we miss cheonging sessions ourselves? Here's photos of a cheoning session in a pub at the Union building (yes, there are 3 pubs in the union building at the very heart of the campus itself!). And that Friday night was the Fruity Night!
The next day was a Saturday.. just so happened that the Malaysian and Singaporean Society had a City Tour organised so we just went for it! So much for it being Malaysian and Singaporean.. 3 of us were like the only Singaporeans around la.. the rest were all Malaysians. Bleah. But it was a great tour.. coz I thought I knew the city centre arleady.. but then I realised there were so many short cuts around! Especially to the Chinese Supermarket.. which is so near now haha!
And on the 1st boring Sunday we were cranking our heads on what to do so we just decided to pop by the Leeds Royal Armoury Museum. Whoa turned out to be not bad after all! It was a rather big museum.. with lotsa displays and even live drama performances! Too bad we went quite late so we missed quite a few shows. Oh well but what the heck.. I'm definitaly going again.. especially when friends come to visit. Moreover.. it's FREE!
Check out photos!
Anyway yeah.. today is my first day of school and there's like only 1 hour of lecture (yes 1 hour of lecture per week for 1 module!) Tomorrow's a shionger day though.. but still manageable. Hai.. but of course still having some problems coz timetable clashes and NUS didn't approve some of my newly mapped modules and the silly admin gave me some trouble earlier on (all of us here agree that I'm a victim of her PMS).
And I'm still working on my Brit accent to get myself understood whenever I talk. Whoa I can't seem to keep up more than 3 sentences with the proper accent. How does Rongxuan do it? Ha.
Yuanjing conveniently took the 1st week of school off to visit Paris with her friend so most of the time I'm hanging around with my new Singaporean neighbour Man Hon (who is doing Medicine full time!). Nights are boring here coz I don't hope to cheong too much. Just pan friend chicken drumsticks with noodles with MH and it was yum yum yum! Though I threw away lotsa food I bought last week coz they all didn't last till the expiry date.. =( Guess I was too excited and greedy on the 1st visit to the supermarket.
So for now it'll be more nights in the Engine buildings using the internet.. until my apartment gets it's own connection.
Hope this entry makes up for the long absence in this blog.
Take care all those back in Singapore.
Cheers.
Signed off at
8:33 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
NO INTERNET IN MY ROOM!!
Thursday, September 21, 2006
I've arrived in Leeds like for 4 days already and if anyone's wondering why I'm MIAing from the net for so long.. yeah.. THERE'S NO INTERNET IN MY ROOM!! At least not for the next 1 or 2 weeks when they are still installing the wireless adapted.. grr...
So now I'm in Yuanjing's place using her internet.. her neighbours are really cool.. they cook every night and I just chup in to eat their dinners.. haha.. Though dinner just now was cooked at my place by the other Singaporean SEP pple Elizabeth, Teckie and Yuanjing.. and we ate.. CHICKEN RICE!!! yum yum yum.. Singaporean food....
Chicken Rice!! 
SEP in Leeds!!
There are lotsa things I wanna blog right now but I can't get my thought sorted yet.. not without using my own computer having my own sweet time in the comfort of my own room. It's only strange that the English kids do NOTHING but party EVERY NIGHT and it gets a bit sian to keep going to choing. That's why all the international students tend to hang out together.. but I've great friends from all over the world now.. Japanese.. Italians.. Germans.. Africans.. Argentinians.. Swizterlanders.. cool huh?
Ok la.. more photos and updates in a weeks time I guess =)
Signed off at
6:14 am
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
In Bergen
Friday, September 15, 2006
It's been long since I last posted.. wanted to post/upload photos before leaving Stockholm at Sipei's place but fell asleep before I could do so.. Now using a shared internet terminal in the dorm in Norway so can't blog much.. will do so when I finally reach back to Leeds in 3 days time.
And yes will do a good writeup to do justice to my Stockholm-Oslo-Bergen experience.
Sigh I so miss buaya week.. bet they are having so much fun back in hall now. I miss everybody back in Singapore. =(
Signed off at
4:48 am
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Norway
Monday, September 11, 2006
Norway would be our second country in our pre-SEP stint.. It was 2 girls and a guy now after we bade farewell to EngKheng and made our way to one of the most expensive travel places on Earth!
Arriving in Oslo and the National Museum
First impression of Oslo was the rate of high-techness the city was in... albeit it being cold and metallic.. with reference to the airport and the express train to the city centre. After checking into the hostel, we went around to Karl Johans Gate for a walk only to find the place strangely sleazy.. though it was supposed to be a main shopping street. Sensing that it was not wise for 3 young asian travellers to be wandering around a foreign land at night.. we grabbed our exhorbitantly expensive (already the cheapest we could find) meal and headed back to our hostel.
Our roommates were these 2 German girls who were students as well. Had a nice talk with them and that was when we found out that Karl Johans Gate was an infamous Red Light District at night. Haha.
Wasn't feeling too well.. so popped Paracetamol and headed to bed.
Daytime Oslo was much more peaceful. The buildings were characteristic and quaint. Was marvelled by the architecture.. probably coz it was different from Sweden and was still enthralled by the whole European-architecture thing. So we took photos as we made our way to the National Museum which was a rather long walk away.
Took the free tour guide who did an excellent job in explaining how all the murals around the Gallery.. all of which were painted according to Norwegian history. Turned out to be a rather enjoyable tour coz the art weren't too abstract.. haha.. means I understand what was drawn!
Folk Museum
Took a boat to one Peninsula where all the Museums were congregated.. one of which was the Folk Museum. The place was kinda like Skanson of Sweden. Nothing really interesting. Few photos also.
Viking Museum
Ancient Norwegians were Vikings.. and the boats were mainly used as burial sites. That's all I can remember haha. My brain is like a net.. wadever I read in Museums will just flow out through the holes. So er.. just see photos lor. Haha.
Vigeland Park
Norway's most visited attraction with over 1 million visitors every year. Approximately 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943), who also designed the layout of the park. A monumental artistic creation with a human message that is well worth seeing. Popular recreation area.
Yeap.. and it was real nice place to chill out.. sit in the grass.. under the warm fantastic weather.. The whole place was full of naked sculptures. Oh well.. this is art!
We were at the Internet point at the train station happily using internet when his (rather good looking) Chinese guy came up to ask if we were Singaporeans. Haha! Meeting a Singaporean in this part of the world is always exciting. He's Adrian.. studying Geography in LSE.. same course as Jilyn. Hohoho. Coincidental yeah?
Norway In a Nutshell
The best part about our Oslo hostel would be it's FREE CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST! Yeah the breakfast rocked.. with hot sausages, scrambled eggs, potato wedges.. FRESHLY TOASTED BREAD.. cheese.. yum yum yum.. so naturally we had to take this symbolic photo of our last meal in the Hostel before we headed on to Bergen.
Norway in a Nutshell is this famous ride which took us through the sights of scenic Norway via a train from Oslo to Myrdal.. then onThe Flam Railway, from Myrdal to Flam.. where we took a boat ride through the fjords to Gudvangen.. where to took bus up steep slopes passing by towering waterfalls to Voss where we finally took a train to Bergen. Watch this video here to really understand how wonderful this trip was.. where even my photos won't do justice to...
Bergen
Our second city in Norway and our final stop before heading back to our respective universities in UK. Bergen turned out to be a nice little fishing village with characteristic pointed-roofed houses. Walked around.. took photos.. then we took a bus out of the main city to Troldhaugen to visit the hometown of Edward Grieg.. a famous Norwegian composer.
It was a looong walk into Troldhaugen. The blazing heat from the sun didn't help either. Though it did bring about one of the more interesting happenings during our whole trip.
We were on our way back to the bus stop after visiting the place.. the sun was equally hot and 3 of us were damn tired from walking. Jilyn even wanted to faint on the spot so we could get and ambulance to send us back Haha. One of the girls did mention something like "I wish some kind soul will pick us up."
And almost immediately like a wish-come-true a car stopped by and the driver asked if we needed a lift. Under normal circumstances we would have kindly rejected.. after all.. we were vulnerable travellers in a foreign country. But that time wasn't a normal circumstance. So we hopped in.. me in front.. the 2 girls behind.
Turned out that the driver was a pianist himself doing some recording nearby and he often gives people lifts out to the bus stop! What a kind soul. The mere fact that he was a pianist probably got the girls smitten with him already haha..
Kind people do exist after all.
Second Day in Bergen
Started off by visiting the Hanseatiske Museum.. learnt about the Bergen fishermen's lifestyle blah blah blah.. then we took the Furnicular up to Mount Fløyen to see a spectacular view of Bergen!
Walking around the park was refreshing.. took a lot of group shots. Weather was great. And guess what's interesting? We bumped into Adrian (the Singaporean guy at the Oslo Internet Joint) again! Haha.
We wanted to celebrate our last day in Scandinavia by feasting on Norwegian Salmon.. but was oh too expensive.. so we settled on Pizza Buffet instead. Whoa eat until can die.
Just so happened that it was the Cultural Feste in Bergen so we decided to feast ourselves in the cultural mood. From street dancers to outdoor bands to puppet shows.. what a great ending to our Scandinavia trip! Met this cute little Norwegian boy who I gave my carrabena to.
We intended to spend the night in the airport but we realised that the airport wasn't 24 hours! So we just stayed illegally in the hostel common room till it was time for us to head to the airport.
What a trip! Good bye Norway.. Hello UK!
Signed off at
11:59 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Halfway through Stockholm
Friday, September 08, 2006
It's now past midnight in Stockholm.. Fangxi and Sipei are both sleeping now while I catch some time to blog on her comp while uploading photos.. It's kinda freezing outisde now but the view from her room's fantastic =)
So.. about Stockholm..
The past 2 days weren't exactly fruitful.. but it's was fun exploring this beautiful city... I'm a bit tired now to blog in detail so for now just enjoy the photos
Don't worry I'll make up for full description of Stockholm when I'm more awake..
Signed off at
6:29 am
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Stockholm
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
6th Sept - First Day in Stockholm
It was a short night at Rongxuan’s place.. considering that we only reached her place at 10+ and had to leave at 5+. It was the first time that we experienced the freezing cold of the UK mornings. So, we caught the 2nd bus in the pitch dark and made our way to the Oxford Gloucester Green Bus Station to make our way to Stansted airport.
Yes, at the Stansted Airport we ate our first very expensive meal that cost me £7.70! (S$23!!!)
And we arrived in Stockholm!
Fangxishenmedongxi and I were lucky to catch an airport bus immediately after we went out of the airport. But we could not sit together coz the bus was almost filled up. I even had to sit on the makeshift seat just beside the driver. But oh well.. the bus drove through the suburbs to the city and it was a great scenic ride. It was a refreshingly beautiful city. But of course the 1st thing on our minds was to meet up with Jilyn.. which we eventually did! (after 2 international phone calls)
Again, we were lucky to meet Sipei along the way to the student hostels so we just chucked our backpacks at her place and went to have dinner. Oh my gosh Eng Kheng brought us to this ‘cheap’ (nothing in Stockholm is cheap just that this place is cheaper than normal) place that served HUGE pizzas… check it out
There was nothing much to do at night… but it just so happened that there was a choinging session at a student pub nearby and Sipei highly recommended us to go.. which we did.. along with her flatmates.. a British lad, a Finnish gal, 2 German guys and of course.. 3 Singaporean kids. Whoa chionging there was really boring man.. just had to buy beer and stand around and talk. The rule was if you finished the drink in your hands you’d have to get yourself another one. And the guys all drink beer here.. no such things as Tequila Shots or Burbon Coke no no no… But a good thing is that beer is not expensive.
Of course there was the dancing part. The music was terrible. But of course the fun part was watching the drunkards make a full of themselves.
Strange thing was the whole party ended at… 1am! Haha that was ridiculously early to end a party. And all the drunkards were shouting and singing at the top of their voices as all made their way back to the hostels.
way back to the hostels.
7th Sept - Foiled Plans
There were a few outdoor places we wanted to visit this day but was postponed because we woke up to a light drizzle. Hence, the more exciting indoor thing to do was to GO TO IKEA!!
One interesting thing was that while on the bus to IKEA, the 3 of us were just chatting and yakking away when suddenly this old man beside us tapped us and said
“Excuse me, are you from Singapore?”
Haha.. whoa the Singaporean slang is so recognisable! Turns out that this old couple were a retired businessman and businesswoman couple and had been traveling around Europe too. Took a photo with them =)
And ikea was HUGE!!! It was a 5-storey building that sold lost of Ikea stuff.. stuff found in Singapore and of course lots more stuff not found back home. I bought myself a nice orange umbrella (which is spoilt already but you still can catch it in the Stockholm photos) and a cheap pillow for myself.
The highlight of the day turned out to be… MEATBALLS!
Whoa having authentic Swedish meatballs in Ikea was really shiok. The girls were absolutely sure that the meatballs here were much nicer than back in Singapore… well, I think they taste the same. If anything were nice it had to be the potatoes.. truly soft and buttery it could just melt in your mouth. Yummmmmmmmmm……
We went to the City Hall hoping to catch the guided tour but we missed it. We went to the Royal Palace but it was closing soon. So we ended up taking useless photos and shopped for groceries (which were freaking expensive)
Dinner was simple pasta with minced meat.
8th Sept - Skanson
Skansen is like a miniature Sweden. The old farmsteads and houses have been brought here from all over the country. They are seen surrounded by gardens and cultivated patches that are typical of the time and place. There are wild animals, mainly from Scandinavia, and rare breeds of farm animals. There are also trees and plants here from all parts of Sweden
Ok I copied the above paragraph from the Skansen info brochure. All in all Skansen is just this place build up to show what old Sweden was like… the buildings.. the roads.. they even had callafarres stationed in some buildings to explain to us what the building were for last time and took photos with us.
The only 2 regrets I had about this place was I didn’t go into this part of Skansen (had to pay) where they featured strange Scandinavian animals. Seriously they were animals that I never saw before!
And secondly was the horrible weather unsuitable for an outdoor excursion like this. Fangxi and I were just freezing in the cold winds and light drizzles such that by the afternoon we couldn’t wait to get out of the place to somewhere warm. The eateries had mostly outdoor seats so naturally they would be closed. Bleah.
So here are the photos for Skansen.
Vasa Museum
Between four and five o’clock, the great new warship Vasa keeled over and sank. A few short lines about a major disaster were written in this book on August 10, 1628. For a magnificent ship that sank on her very first voyage, this could have been the end. Instead, it was the beginning of an adventure that is still in progress. The Vasa was found almost intact, standing on the seabed, after three centuries. The ship was salvaged and is now one of the foremost tourist attractions in the world.
Again that was excerpted from a book that was given at the museum haha. Yes the whole museum was built around this big ship but I think it’s an extremely well organized museum. Definitely one of the more interesting museums I visited in this whole trip.
Since it was our last night in Stockholm we decided to cook a great dinner for ourselves! It was really a good good homecooked meal. Satisfying…
9th Sept - Royal Palace
We started the day with a TEN SCOOP ICE CREAM!!! What a splurge… but it was really worth the money
Then off we headed to the Royal Palace. And it was just in time to catch the changing of guards ceremony. Or so we thought. The moment the band was heard everyone rushed to the parade square and we were squeezed all the way to the back. So all I did was randomly take some photos and raised my camera in the air hopefully to take a video of the Parade. Bleah it was nothing much at all. Quite boring actually. Thus we had our share of fun by stealing shots with the guards in charge of crowd control ha.
We headed into the Royal Palace. Couldn’t visit the whole place though.. coz we had a cruise to catch after that. It was lucky we caught the guided tour in the main part of the palace so it didn’t reduce to wandering the palace aimlessly.
Surprisingly, the cruise after that was rather luxurious.. considering that it only cost S$50! Check out the ship
Just like all cruises there was absolutely nothing to do. Except to take photos, enjoy the sea breeze and take more photos. As we are all poor students, dinner was our usual unflattering Swedish crisp bread with spread in our little bunk.
We just spent the night by the live band playing Bridge. The band was cool. But didn’t last long.
The ship was going to dock at Finland at 2.30am. Sunrise would be at 6am. We planned to sleep a bit and wake up for these 2 events.
Oh we didn’t. Haha.
10th Sept - And we were in Finland!
This was the first time we realized that we didn’t need to have our passports checked whenever we travel within the EU. We just stepped onto Finland soil without stamping our passports!
It was a quiet Sunday morning and it was reeeaaallllly quiet. There were no cars on the street. There was not a single soul around. We walked to a little town centre and all the shops were closed. The air was refreshing but the walk was generally boring.
So hungry/greedy us headed back to the ship for BUFFET BREAKFAST!!
Gosh that was a great meal after scrimping and saving all these while!
When the ship docked at Sweden again, we said goodbye to EngKheng as the UK gang took the airport train to catch our plane to Oslo, Norway.
Signed off at
11:59 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
